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Alistair Darling Alex Salmond STV

Scottish independence referendum debate viewers foiled by STV Player failure

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By Stephen Lepitak, -

August 5, 2014 | 3 min read

Many viewers tuning in for the Independence Referendum debate between Alastair Darling and Scottish first minister, Alex Salmond, were left frustrated when the site was hit by problems as the TV debate began.

STV Player was the main route for anyone outside of Scotland to tune into the first and only TV debate between the two parties campaigning for and against independence for Scotland, but complaints began to appear on Twitter as soon as the programme began.

Even former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell voiced his complaints about the online service failure.

In the end many viewers were sent to another streaming service, Zattoo instead to watch the programme.

A spokesperson for STV commented: "We are receiving an unprecedented demand for the live stream of the debate. We have made each section of the programme available for immediate catch up on our referendum site, scotlanddecides.com."

A poll conducted by YouGov on behalf of The Drum discovered that 70 per cent of Londeners wants to be able to watch the debate live.

Alistair Darling Alex Salmond STV

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